A problem that exists in the market with regards to awnings and storm shutters, especially in high wind and storm prone locations such as the New Jersey shore, the Emerald Coast or any shoreline, are the corrosive affects of the salt air environment, the damaging affect of high winds, the force of rain as it is driven horizontally at 60 miles an hour for days at a time during a Northeaster or hurricane, and the impact that the sun's rays have upon the interior of homes and business with large expanses of glass.
There are products available that at least partly address a subset of the afore-mentioned problems, but there are no products or disclosures that address all of them in a single, effective embodiment. The most widely used products in this industry are the rolling storm shutter and the retractable awning. The rolling storm shutter provides storm and sun protection to interior spaces typically installed over glass openings and provides an additional thermal barrier as such. The retractable awning provides rain and shade protection to outside living spaces such as decks and patios. Both these products offer functions that are very desirable on both the residential and commercial markets. However, each of these products are installed directly over the door or window, so in a sense, they are mutually exclusive. You can have one or the other but not both.
Other storm protection systems include rigid and fabric panels that must be installed when the threat of adverse weather is eminent, and then removed later once the threat has passed. While these panels are substantially lower in cost, they are labor intensive to install, can be dangerous to install and require storage when not in use.